Cambridge Digital Library

Peterhouse

The volumes great, who so doth still peruse,
And dailie turnes, and gazeth on the same,
If that the fruicte thereof, he do not use,
He reapes but toile, and never gaineth fame:
Firste reade, then marke, then practise that is good,
For without use, we drinke but LETHE flood.

Peterhouse (founded 1284) is the oldest of the Cambridge
Colleges. Its founder, Hugh of Balsham, Bishop of Ely,
bequeathed a number of books to the College on his death in
1286. The continuing generosity of members of Peterhouse built
up a substantial library during the next two and a half
centuries. A catalogue begun in 1418 and maintained until 1481
gives details of over 450 manuscripts, more than two hundred of
which survive today, overwhelming still in the College's
possession. In addition, manuscripts were added by donors from
the end of the fifteenth century until the mid-seventeenth
century. A total of 276 medieval manuscripts belonging to
Peterhouse are now on deposit in the University Library, where
they may be consulted.

As part of the process of recataloguing and preserving the
College's collections, it has been decided to present
highlights from the Peterhouse manuscripts in digital form. The
first group of manuscripts to be digitised was the independent
collection of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century part books of
choral music, which are available through the Digital Image Archive of Medieval
Music (DIAMM). It is
now hoped to present some of the College's medieval manuscripts
with appropriate commentary as part of the Cambridge Digital
Collections. The first of the College's medieval manuscripts to
be digitised (the Equatorie of the Planetis, Ms. 75.1) has now
been presented with appropriate commentary as part of the
Cambridge Digital Collections. As funding becomes available,
further manuscripts will be added to the online collection. A
first step has also been made with the presentation of
manuscripts from the College’ s post-medieval holdings, with
the digitisation of a recently acquired archive describing the
development of the jet engine by Sir Frank Whittle and Power
Jet in the years 1940-41.

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